'Slenderman' stabbings in Wisconsin the subject of new HBO film

The horrific stabbing of a young Wisconsin girl that was allegedly inspired by an online horror character called "Slenderman" will feature in a new true-crime documentary by HBO.

IndieWire reports the premium entertainment channel will premiere at SXSW in Austin, Texas, on Friday a new film from award-winning director Irene Taylor Brodsky called "Beware the Slenderman."

Featuring prominently in the documentary is the case of two 12-year-old girls from Wisconsin, who said the so-called Slenderman was the reason they were inspired to stab their classmate nearly 20 times near Waukesha in 2014.

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According to IndieWire, Brodsky uses the disturbing online character, who has been "terrorizing children" on the internet since 2009, to explore the effect of Internet lore on real-life actions, and the impact of the digital age on children's imaginations.

The website says Brodsky got exclusive access to the parents of the two girls charged with the crime.

WCCO reports the documentary comes amid renewed interest in the real-crime genre, coming after the hugely popular Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer," which also relates to a criminal case in Wisconsin.

"Shot over 18 months with heartbreaking access to the families of the would-be murderers, the film plunges deep down the rabbit hole of their crime, a Boogeyman and our society’s most impressionable consumers of media. The entrance to the internet can quickly lead us to its dark basement, within just a matter of clicks. How much do we hold children responsible for what they find there?"

The documentary is expected to be shown on HBO, HBO Go and HBO Now at some point in the future.